2022 Life Logs, Day 154: Missed Flight, but All is Well
Date: Friday, June 3, 2022
Weather: Partly Cloudy; High , Low degrees F
Location: At Home in the Gate House at the Monroe Institute, Faber, VA
I missed my flight this morning, which I will explain, but with Heather’s quick research skills, I got to Richmond to meet up with Justin and family just an hour or so late. If it hadn’t been for Heather, I wouldn’t have arrived until mid-afternoon, so big thanks to H! Despite getting up at 3 am and driving out of the driveway by 3:20, I was three minutes late checking my bag. Because I had purchased an economy ticket, Jet Blue would not let me take my bag as a carry on. So at 5:30 am, they rescheduled me for an 11 am flight. I checked and could find no other flights going to either Reagan or Dulles until later in the afternoon on any airline, so the 11 am flight seemed the best bet. The original plan was for me to fly to DC because it was half the price, and then rent a car to drive to Richmond to pick up JJZ&C. None of us could afford to drive into Charlottesville which is where we needed to be. But under the original plan, we would all meet in Richmond and then drive to Charlottesville together. But my later than planned arrival (must have bags checked 40 minutes prior to flight) blew those plans out of the water. I sent a text to Heather, who gets up at 5:30 every morning, to tell her what happened. Then a few minutes later, she texted back with info on an 8:40 Jet Blue flight to Richmond. I would arrive an hour after Justin and family. I immediately got back in the long help line and waited an hour and a half in line and at the help desk. It took forever for some supervisor to say they could change the flight to Richmond, but I would have to fly home from Reagan in DC. That was not going to work. So, it took another forever, plus two supervisors to finally make the change for me to fly into and back out of Richmond. It doubled the cost,, but at that point I was ready to pay anything to just get there. So, I did. While waiting for all that to happen, I cancelled my rental car reservation out of Reagan and rented a car in Richmond. I should not have been so cheap and done this to begin with, but it all worked out.
Justin, Jo, Ziggy, and Coco had hoped to get to the San Juan airport last night and get some sleep before their 3 am flight. But no one really slept. They flew to Orlando and then had a bit of a wait for the flight to Richmond. Again, no sleep. But everyone was in a great mood despite being tired
and we continued on and had a wonderful day. At no extra cost, a National Car Rental agent gave us a mini-van instead of the car I had reserved when he saw how much luggage we had. It’s a Toyota and it is super comfortable and the gas mileage is not bad. Thanks to that agent! We drove the hour and a half to Charlottesville, had lunch downtown, did some shopping for strings for a mandolin and for food, and arrived at the Monroe Institute about 30 minutes south of Charlottesville in the late afternoon. The view from Gate House where we are staying at the base of the 600-acre campus is beautiful.
But while Jo took a nap, Justin took me, Ziggy, and Coco further up the mountain to the main campus to explore. The view from the top is stunning.
I’ll explain more about what goes on here as I learn more, but I must say I was very impressed with what I saw today. In the buildings at the very top, Ziggy got to play the grand piano
and we met Robert who gave me an introduction to the research they do here at the Institute. He is probably around Justin’s age, and he is a sailor with a dream of sailing around the world. Needless to say, we got along great. While Justin continued talking with Robert, Ziggy, Coco, and I started walking back down the mountain hoping to see deer. We had not seen any when Justin picked us up, but then once in the van they started coming out of hiding. The kids were so excited as they have never seen deer before, at least not since they were old enough to remember.
After dinner, Justin and Jo went back up to meet the other artists who were coming in this evening from places far and wide. The kids were watching a movie on a computer while I started writing this log. But right now, Coco is snuggled up in Justin and Jo’s bed fast asleep and Ziggy is sound asleep on the living room floor right beside me. Life couldn’t be better.
